Envelope addresser



Jan. 21, 1958 R. H. WILLIAMS 2,820,408

' ENvELoPE ADDREssER v Filed Apg. 1e, 1954 4 sheets-sheet '1 van NNN- l Jan'.` 21', 1958 R. H. WILLIAMS 2,820,408

ENVELOPEk ADDRESSER Filed Aug. 16, 1954 l 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN V EN TOR. oaerl Wu MM5 Jan. 21,1958 A R. H. WILLIAMS ENVELOPE ADDRESSER 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Aug. 16, 1954 .In lli rrofven 4 sheets-sheet 4 R. H. WILLIAMS ENVELOPE ADDRESSER NWN .H

IN V EN TOR.

d Bogie/*117. 0h/4M;

.'Jan. 21, 195s."

Filed- Aug. 16, 1954 United States Patent 'Op ENVELOPE ADDRESSER Robert H. Williams, Santa Ana, Calif.

Application August 16, 1954, Serial No. 450,142

Claims. (Cl. lol-132.5)

This invention relates to addressing machines in which a card carries a master address, formed in reverse with suitable copying ink, and the mail matter to be printed upon is moistened with a quick-deflusing and quickdrying spirit and said cards and said mail matter are then pressed together face-to-face to transfer to the mail matter a positive image of the address on the master card.

In my copending application, Serial No. 423,117, for U. S. Letters Patent on an addressing machine, I have disclosed a oor model of such a machine in which the machine is mounted on a stand resting on the oor and the receptacles for receiving the cards and envelopes after the latter pass through said machine are embodied with said stand and are disposed close to the floor.

It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved addressing machine which performs the same function as the machine shown in said copending application but which is adapted to rest upon a table and be actuated while so positioned.

It is another object of the invention to provide such a table model in which the cards and envelopes passing through said machine are deposited in receptacles provided on the machine above the top of the table on which it rests within easy reach of the operator from a standing position and with the address-carrying faces of said'cards and envelopes turned upwardly. This is of great importance in permitting the operator to keep track of the operation of the machine and to detect immediately when a blank card goes through the machine, such as is used for marking a division point between successive groups of cards relating to different postal areas.

In the addressing machine shown in said copending application the envelopes and cards are fed from hoppers by rollers rotating respectively therebeneath, said rollers being in rolling contact so as to press each envelope fed from the envelope hopper against the corresponding card being fed from the card hopper when these two travel together between said two rollers. In that machine the spirit is applied to the envelope before it passes between said rollers. When that machine is run without envelopes, therefore, the spirit is applied to the enveolpefeeding roller and tends to be transmitted from this to the card-feeding roller and from the latter to the cards so that when the latter are thereafter stacked, the spirit on the cards thus wetted, tends to dissolve the copying ink on adjacent cards and cause this to smear.

It is, therefore, a further object of the invention to provide an addressing machine of the general type above mentioned in which there is no opportunity for the spirit used in moistening the envelope to be transferred from the envelope feeding roller onto the card feeding roller.

The manner of accomplishing the above objects, as well as further objects and advantages, will be made manifest in the following description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings in which Fig. l is a diagrammatic plan view of a preferred embodiment of the invention.

"ice

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary detail view taken on line 2-2 of Fig. 7.`

Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1 and illustrates the manner of operation of the invention.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged detail sectional view taken on the line 4--4 of Fig. l and illustrates the structure of the envelope moistener of the invention.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary detail view taken on the line 5 5 of Fig. 3 and illustrates the spring-mounting of the printing roller of the invention.

Fig. 6 is a vertical sectional view taken on the line 6 6 of Fig. 3.

Fig. 7 is an enlarged detail sectional view taken on the line 7-7 of Fig. l and illustrates the manner of reinverting a card from which an address has been printed so that said card will be delivered to its receptacle, printed face up.

Fig. 8 is a diagrammatic plan development of the peripheral surface of the envelope feed roller.

Fig. 9 is a diagrammatic plan development of the peripheral surface of the card feed roller.

Fig. l0 is a fragmentary enlarged sectional view taken on the line 10-10 of Fig. 8 and illustrates that portion of the periphery of the feed roller where this is occupied solely by the endless slick surfaced envelope supporting band of said roller.

Fig. 1l is a view similar to Fig. 10 and is taken on the line 11--11 of Fig. 8 and shows a portion of the peripheral surface of the enveolpe feed roller which is occupied not only by said slick surfaced band but by smooth rubber friction pads of substantially the same maximum diameter as said slick band.

Fig. 12 is a view similar to Fig. 1l and is taken on the 12-12 of Fig. 8 and illustrates a portion of the periphery of the envelope feed roller which is occupied not only by the slick band and friction pads aforesaid but also by balanced rubber friction strips having a series of exible rubber teeth which extend radially outward beyond said slick band and said rubber pads to engage an envelope and cause the same to be fed from the envelope hopper.

While the invention is adapted for use in a wide variety of printing operations it is particularly useful in addressing articles to be mailed and is disclosed herein as ernbodied in an envelope addresser 15.

The addresser 15 comprises a table model and has a flat base 16 preferably formed of sheet metal and adapted to rest directly upon a table 17. If desired, the base 16 may be provided with rubber suction cups which face downwardly and grip the table 17 so as to both constitute a cushion support for the addresser and hold the same removably fastened to the table.

Secured. on the base 16 and extending upwardly therefrom is a pair of parallel frame walls 18 and 19. Fixed by its opposite ends on the base 16 is a metal strip 20 (Figs. l and 3) said opposite ends being spaced from the base by sheet metal spacers 21 so as to provide a guideway beneath strap 20 for a bottom plate 22 of an envelope receptacle 23, the outer end of the plate 22 being bent upwardly to form an end wall 24 of said receptacle. Mounted on its lower end on the base 16 is a sheet metal post 25, the upper end of which is bent to form a horizontal guide flange 26.

Provided on the inner faces of the frame walls 18 and 19, at corresponding opposite points, are pairs of aligned bearings 30 and 31 in which shafts 32 and 33 journal respectively. Also provided on the inner faces of said walls at corresponding points directly beneath the bearings 30 are slide pockets 34 in which bearings 35 are vertically slideable and are yieldably supported by springs l 3 36. Extending through slots 37 formed in pockets 34 and journalling in bearings 35 is Aa vshaft 38.

Formed in the wall 19 isfa spirit reservoir aperture 39 from the inner side edge of which a ange 40 is bent inwardly and vfrom the bottom ledge of which a wide flange 41 is bent inwardly. Secured on the inner faces of the `fratrie walls '18 and 19 and curved inwardly and steeply downwardly, to'formfside guides for envelopes being deposited in the envelope receptacle 23, are sheet metal yguides 45 and 46. lFixed with the upper end of the lguide 4l-6 to the wall 19 is an overhead envelope guide 47 for directing envelopes downwardly into the receptacle-23 in the direction indicated by the arrow 48 (Fig. 3).

Fixed on the shaft `32 is a card feed roller 49 and a ber gear i). The roller 49 is preferably of -a hollow metallic structure and has affixed to its periphery, as shown in development in Fig. V9, a continuous endless slick surfaced card supporting rubber band 51 which is closely'spaced from lone end ofsaid roller. The slick surface of isaid band is provided byia polyester adhesive tape 51a applied to said band. An endless bare rubber band 52` is also provided on roller 49 -ush with the opposite end of said roller. Fixed to the periphery of the roller between said endless bands so as to abut against the band 52 and be spaced from the band 51 is a soft rubber printing pad y53. Slightly less than one-half of the trailing portion of pad 53 is rendered slick as by the application vof a strip of polyester adhesive tape 54 to the lexternal surface of sai-d pad. Also mounted on said roller between the band 51 and the pad 53, and between the band :51 and the adjacent end of the roller 49 are rubber frictional 4card feed strips 55 which are coextensive inflength with and correspondingly positioned on the roller: to the lunslicked bare portion 5.6 of the printing pad 53. The strips 55 have rubber Ateeth 57 extending radially therefrom to a radius substantially greater than thatof the peripheral surfaces of the bands 51 and 52'and thel printing pad 53. Rubber strips 55 are removably hooked at their opposite ends onV studs (not shown) which `are vprovided on `the roller 49 and extend outward therefrom, so that said` strips are stretched tightly between said studs.

The Vdirection of travel of the peripherygof the roller 49 is indicated by the arrow v58 (Fig. 9). The leading end ofthe vprinting pad 53 tapers toward the peripheral surface of roller 49 and is covered by a slick piece of plastic adhesive 4tape A59. The radial thickness of the bands 51 and 52, and the pad 53 are substantially equal.

Mounted on .the shaft 33 isa printing roller 60 which is of substantially the same construction as the roller 49 except that itis shorter in length and is provided with a single rubber pressurebandl 61 which covers the entire peripheral surface of the roller 60. The diameter of the rollert! is substantially equal to the diameter of the roller 49 and the roller 69 is constantly pressed against roller 49 by the springs 36 supporting the bearings 35. The roller v60 is positioned with one end thereof flush with Vthe .outer edge of rubber band 52 on roller 49 and with the inner end of roller 60 ush with the inner edge of the printing pad 53.

Fixed on the shaft 33 is a fiber gear 62 which is of the same pitch diameter as the gear 50, this diameter being such that these gears mesh in one-to-one driving relation. Also fixed on shaft 33 is an envelope feed roller 63 which is of substantially the same diameter as the rollers 49 kand 60 and is positioned -on shaft 33 so that the opposite end thereof from the gear 62'lies in the same plane as the corresponding end of roller 60.

The periphery of envelope Yfeed roller 63 is provided wlth an endless envelope supporting rubber band 64, to which is applied a polyester adhesive tape 64a giving this a slick surface, and bare rubber frictional pads 65 and 66. These pads are substantially equal in outside diameter with the band 64and are lspaced slight distances from opposite edges of the latter to provide room Vfor mounting, in said spaces on said periphery, two rubber envelope feed strips 67 which are coextensive in length. Strips 67 are of the same character fas strips 55 of roller 49 although somewhat longer than strips 55 because of the fact that envelopes are fed by strips 67 while cards, somewhat shorter in length, are fed by strips 55. Opposite ends of the pads 65 and 66 are tapered toward the periphery of the roller `63 and are covered by slick surfaced plastic adhesive tape. Strips 67 have rubber teeth 69 which extend radially outwardly beyond the outer surfaces of the pads 65 and 66 and the endless slick band 44. The direction of travel of the periphery of envelope feed roller 63 is indicated by arrow 7d (Fig. 8).

Mounted above the roller 49 is a sheet metal card hopper including an end wall 76 from opposite side edges of which side walls 77 are bent. Backrest supporting arms 78 Vare 'formed to extend from lower ends of Walls 77. Pivotally mounted between ends of arms 78 is a card backrest "80. The'hopper 75 is supported on brackets 81 and-32 which are fixed on upper ends of the frame side walls 18 and 19. The hopper end wall 76 has a-card-discharge-fopening 82. Fixed to said end wall is a rigid card guide strap V64 which extends downward close to card feed roller 49. Also provided on said end wall-is a bolt l which extends through a slot 91 in a a metal backing member 92 of a card separator 93 and receives a wing nut94 to secure said separator to end wall '76. The member 92 is shaped asshown in Fig. 3, to provide a support `for a rubber friction member 95 which -is preferably formed of soft sponge rubber. The upper end of rubber member y95 is secured to the member 92 by la -bolt 96'and is held by member 92 under restraint and in concentric conformation with the roller 49, as shown in'Fig. 3.

The upper portion of the member -92 having the slot 91 may be adjusted vertically to bring this into an inclined relation with the end wall 76 of the hopper 75 so that by manipulation of wing nut 94 the pressure with which the member .95 `is applied tothe roller 49 may be adjustably determined.

The card separator 93 issubstantially coextensive axially with the slick endless band 51 of roller 49and bears directlyon said band.

Fixed to the wall 19 is a bracket 97, the inner end of which supports the upperend of a card guide bar 98 which is shaped concentrically with, centrally located relative to, and closely spaced from the Yslick surfaced band 51 of the Aroller `49, .the vopposite end of bar 98 being supported -vonxa :bracket .99 secured to the wall 19. Secured as bybrazingto the bar 98.-..are piano wire springs and 101 which yieldably press against ythe slick band 51 to hold cards in contactiwith the .latter during the operation of the machine 15.

Fixed at its-opposite ends to the side walls 1S and 19 is a U-shaped bracket 105 formed of strap material and including a pair of parallel `sections 106A and 107 in which slots 108 are formed to shiftablyrreoeive trunnions 109 of a card inverting roller v 110. y Mounted on each of the bracket zsections 106'is awwire'spring 111, each of which bears fagainst one of the'trunnions 109 so that their combined action vyieldably holds the roller 110 in rolling contact with the roller-49.

The roller 11tlis preferably barrel shaped and has stretched thereabout a rubber lband 112 centrally located thereon and a rubber band 113 located at .one end thereof, these bands having-substantiallyl-equal external diameters and being constantly pressed bythe springs 111 in rolling Contact with the roller 49. The band 113 is disposed in matching relation :with and is held in constant contact with the endlessv drive bandV 52 of roller 49.

Mounted on frame wall 19-and extending inwardly therefrom is a-bracket 113fon-which isltixed a U-shapcd wire card guide 114, parallel legsfllSwof whichare curved and extend over and slightly down around the roller 110 close to and on opposite sides of the rubber band 112.

Supported at its upper end on the bracket 105, as by hooks 120, is a card chute 121 which is twisted so that a card delivered into the upper end of the chute is transmitted to a position on the opposite side of the frame wall 19 as clearly shown in Figs. l, 3 and 6. Provided to be supported on the table 17, or on the base 16 if desired, is a card receptacle 122 having a bottom 123, an outer side wall 124, an end wall 125, and an inner side wall 126, the latter being flared (Figs. 1 and 6) to extend beneath the chute 121 and guide cards passing from said chute into said receptacle.

Supported above the roller 63 on brackets 127 and 128, fixed respectively on side walls 18 and 19 is an envelope hopper 129 which includes a sheet metal front wall 130 from which side walls 131 are bent. Formed rearwardly from lower portions of the side walls 131 are arms 125. The lower end of a backrest 136 having upturned side anges 137, lies between the arms 135 and is pivoted thereto by bolts 138 extending through said arms and said flanges. These bolts are kept snug so as to hold the backrest 136 in any adjusted position to which it may be turned about said bolts. Fixed on the end wall 125 is an envelope guide 139, the lower end of which lies in spaced relation with but close to the roller 63, the purpose of which will be made clear hereinafter.

The hopper end wall 125 is also provided with a bolt 140 and wing nut 141 which serves to adjustably mount on said end wall an envelope separator 142 which is substantially identical in construction with the card separator 93 and is held pressurably against the endless slick band 6d of envelope feed roller 63 by the bolt 140 and wing nut 141 in the same manner that the card separator 93 is held against the endless slick band 51 of the card feed roller 49 by bolt 90 and wing nut 94. The degree of pressure with which the separator 142 is thus applied to the slick band 64 is readily adjustable by manipulation of the wing nut 141.

Attention is called to the fact that the bare friction pad 65 on the roller 63 and the half slick and half bare printing pad 53 on the roller 49 are in substantial radial alignment, which fact is important although these pads do not come into contact with each other in the operation of the addresser 15. Also disposed in radial alignment with these pads is an envelope spirit moistener 143 having a thin arm 149 of spring metal, the upper end of which is secured to the hopper end wall 125 by a bolt 15. Bent downwardly from a lower end portion of arm 149 are wings 151 between which a trunnioned moistener roller 152 is pivotally mounted. The spring arm 149 is so bent as to hold the roller 152 out of contact with the roller 63 but in the path of rubber friction pad 65 so that the roller 152 is pressed against said pad in rolling 'contact therewith when rotation of the roller 63 causes pad 65 to travel beneath the nioistener roller 152. The inner end portion of a felt wick 153 is yieldably held against roller 152 by a spring cap 154 which is secured, as by soldering, with the lower end of a spring wire 155, the upper end of which is secured, as by soldering, to the moistener arm 149 (Figs. 4 and 6).

Extending into the opening 39 and resting on the flange 41 is a spirit reservoir 156 having a cover 157 provided with two holes 158 and 159. The first of these holes is available for delivering a supply of spirit to said reservoir. The other hole receives the wick 153 so that the outer end portion of this may be immersed in s aid spirit and the latter transmitted through said wick to the roller 152.

One end of the shaft 32 extends through the wall 19 and this shaft end has a crank 160 by which the addresser 15 may be manually driven. t

6 Operation With a'supply of spirit in the reservoir 156 and with supplies of master address cards 161 in hopper 75 and envelopes 162, in hopper 129, the addresser 15 is actuated by manually rotating the crank 160. This directly rotates the card feed roller 49, and, through the gears 50 and 62, rotates the envelope feed roller 63 in timed relation therewith. A single card and a single envelope are thus fed from said hoppers conjointly and in successive pairs so that the card of each pair overlies the envelope of that pair when the two pass together between rollers 49 and 60, as shown in Fig. 3. This timed feeding of the cards and envelopes results from the oneto-one drive connection between rollers 49 and 63 and the positioning on these rollers of the rubber-toothed feeding strips 55 and 67 (Figs. 8 and 9). The cards 161 and envelopes 162 are placed in their respective hoppers in fanned relation, with the lowermost element of each stack advanced the farthest in the direction of rotation of the adjacent surface of the supporting feed roller. The separators 93 and 142 prevent the feeding of cards or envelopes from their respective hoppers except when the strips 55 and 67 come into engagement with the lowermost card and envelope. When this occurs the friction between the strips 55 and 67 and said lowermost card and envelope is so great as to overcome resistance of the separators 93 and 142 and thereby cause the feeding of the lowermost card and envelope respectively past the separators 93 and 142.

Each card thus fed is guided by the fixed card guide 84 and the card guiding bar 98 and its spring fingers lili) and 101 so as to cause said card to remain in frictional engagement with the feed strips 55 and printing pad 53 as the roller 49 rotates thus carrying the card with the roller and in close conformity therewith until this card is discharged upwardly past the upper end of the guide nger 101 (Figs. 3 and 7). There, this card is drawn between the roller 49 and the card inverting roller 100, the card being d-eflected by the U- shape-d wire guide 114 to pass upwardly and outwardly about the roller and between this and said guide, so as to be delivered downwardly into chute 121 through which said card gravitates into the card receptacle 122 with the addressed side of the card facing upwardly.

Each envelope which is fed from the envelope hopper is carried beneath envelope separator 142 by the frictional engagement of feed strips 67 with said envelope. These feed strips remain in contact with said envelope 'as it is fed downwardly until the envelope is guided by guide ange 26 (Fig. 3) toward the line of contact between rollers 49 and 69 and until the leading end of the envelope is gripped by and drawn between said rollers.

Just before the feeding of each lowermost envelope is started by contact with the envelope of strips 67 (Fig. 8) the bare rubber pad 65 cornes in contact with the moistening roller 152 so as to lift this roller -and start it rotating in rolling relation with said pad. Spirit is thus transferred from the wick 155 to the roller 152and from this roller onto the envelope immediately the latter starts to be fed by' the engagement of the feed strips 67 therewith. An area extending lengthwise of the envelope and of la width equal to the length of the roller 152 is thus wetted with spirit as said envelope is being fed past the moistener. By virtue of the radial alignment of the band 65, the envelopes moistener 148 and the printing pad 56, the moistened area on the envelope is disposed in superimposed relation with the printing pad 56 as the envelope passes between the roller 49 and printing rollei` 60 with the corresponding card 161 overlying said envelope and pressed thereagainst. The addresses provided -in reverse in copying ink on the master address cards 161 are located in the areas on said cards which are coextensive with the moistened area on the envelopes. Thus the lcopy ink of the addresses on the address cards 161 '7 is transferred to the spirit wet areas on lthe envelopes as the cards .and envelopes pass between rollers 49 andt).

Deecting envelope guide 4'7" is positioned so .as to be engaged by each envelope as itis discharged from between 'the vrollers i9 and 60 to cause the envelope to gravitate downwardly substantially along the patch indicated by .the arrow 4S, thereby causing this to .be deposited in vthe envelope receptacle 23 with the .addressed face of the envelope turned upward.

It is vbelieved clear from the above description that the addresser maybe readily operated while this rests on a table 17 with theoperator standing alongside and turning the crank '166. With the operator thus positioned, he is .able to easily observe the upturned face of each of the cards and envelopes as they are stacked in their respective receptacles and see whether or not the address is properly printed on the envelope. As blank cards are customarily used to indicate division points between groups of cards stacked together and the addresses on which relate ,to different postal areas, the operator is thus able to notice whena blank card comes through into the card receptacle 22 whereupon he will stop operating the addresser and remove the envelopes and cards from their receptacles 123 and E22, so as to keep these separate, for the time being, from the other cards and envelopes going through the machine.

`While the present invention is designed primarily for hand operation on a table, it is capable of adaptation to various other uses. For instance, the invention is adapted to be provided with a power drive as it is able to print addresses satisfactorily at much higher speeds than are practical when manually actuating the machine.

It is also to be noted that in case the addresser 15 is run for a while without any envelopes in the envelope hopper 29 the spirit ordinarily transmitted from roller 152 to the envelopes is instead transmitted to the pad 65 on which the moistening roller now travels in dire-ct contact. rl`he pad 65, however, tends to dissipate the spiritthus transferred thereto so that this does not accumulate, and due to the envelope feed roller 63 not coming into engagement with the card feed roller 49 or the pressure Vroller 60, no spirit reaches the cards 161 which may, at this time, be travelling about the roller 49 and whichspirit might otherwise moisten these cards and cause them to smear.

Attention is also called to the extreme simplicity of the rnoistener 3.48 of the invention (Fig. 4). The spring pressed plate 154 holds the wick SS in Contact with the roller 152 so as to accomplish a uniform feeding of spirit to this roller when the latter rotates but fails to feed any spirit to the roller when the latter is not rotating. Another advantage of the moistener 148 is that the wick 155 is a straightstrip of felt material of uniform thickness and width, and thus cheap to make.

While not essential to the operation of the invention for its intended purpose, it has been discovered that the wearing of the sponge rubber friction members 95 of the separators 93 and llt-2 is greatly reduced, without in any wayimpairing the action of these separators, by cementing a cover 29) of horse hide, `or other leather of like character, on the friction faces of the members 95. The member-95 of the separator 93 is shown in Fig. 3 as having such a cover.

Although only a single embodiment of the invention has been disclosed herein, it is -to be understood that this is susceptible of various modications and changes without departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of theappended claims.

The claims are:

`1.111` an addressing machine the combination of: a cylindrical roller for feeding master address cards; a hopper disposed abo-ve said roller for containing said cards; friction means on said roller for feeding said cards one at a time from said hopper; frictional lseparating means mounted on said `hopper vand frictionally engaging said roller to :prevent more 'than one of said cards to be fed from said hopper at a time; a yieldable pressure rollermounted beneath -said card roller in offset relation therewith and pressing upwardly thereagainst; guide means for guiding cards fed from said hopper about said card roller and between the latter and said pressure roller, said guide means lying opposite said card feeding roller but .being offset from said pressure roller; a receptacle for said cards; means for inverting cards, discharged from between said card feed roller and said guide means, and delivering the same to saidreceptacle; a cylindrical roller for feeding at articles to be addressed, said roller being positioned to feed said articles directly therefrom to the line of contact between the two aforesaid rollers; an article hopper disposed above said article feed roller for containing said articles; friction means on said article feed roller for feeding said articles, one at a time, from said article hopper; frictional separating means mounted on ysaid articlehopper and frictionally engaging said article roller to prevent more than one of said articles to be fed from said article hopper at a time; drive means for driving said feed rollers in synchronous relation so that said cards and articles pass between said card feed roller and said pressure roller with each card in a given overlapping relation with one of said articles; moistening means for moistening each article with a quick-drying spirit as said article is fed from said article hopper; and a receptacle disposed to receive said articles as they are delivered from between said card feed roller and said pressure roller.

2. A combination as in claim l, in which said card inverting means includes a card reversing roller pressurably engaging said card feed roller just beyond the end of said card guide means whereby said reversing roller is rotated by said engagement; an auxiliary guide for guiding a card passing between said card feed roller and said reversing roller so that said card passes around said reversing roller and is discharged downwardly therefrom; and a chute positioned to receive said card and deliver the same to said card receptacle, said chute being laterally inclined to permit said card receptacle to be positioned away from beneath said pressure roller.

3. ln an addressing machine the combination of: a roller for feeding articles to be addressed; a hopper for supporting a stack of said articles above said roller; a rubber article separator mounted on said hopper and frictionally engaging said roller to retard the feeding of said articles; frictional means on said feed roller for feeding said articles one at a time from said article hopper and between said roller and said separator; article moistening means including a moistening roller mounted on said hopper with said moistening roller in rolling contact with said feed roller so as to moisten each article fed from said hopper; a card hopper; and means out of Contact with said 'article 4feed roller for feeding cards from said card hopper in timed relation with the feeding of the articles from said article hopper and pressing each card against a corresponding article fed from said article hopper and against the moistened surface of said article to print an address from said card onto said article.

4. In an addressing machine the combination of: an article feed roller; an article hopper disposed thereabove for confining a stack of articles with one of said stack resting on said roller; frictional separating means including a stiff backing member and a yieldable soft rubber friction member fixed at its upper end on said backing member so as to be engaged by said stack end and extend from this point along and in concentric engagement with the periphery of said roller for a short distance, an upper portion of said stiff backing member having an aperture; and a bolt having a wing nut and extending through `a wall of said hopper and said aperture whereby the pressure with which said backing member presses said rubber friction member against said roller may be adjusted by manipulation of said wing nut; and frictional means on the periphery of said feed `roller for engaging and feeding the lowermost article from said stack between said roller and said separating means.

5. In an article addressing machine the combination of: an article hopper; an article feed roller disposed therebeneath for feeding articles from said hopper; frictional means on `said hopper for retarding the feeding of more than one article at a time from said hopper; friction feed means on said roller for engaging and feeding articles from said hopper one at a time as said roller is rotated; and an article moistener including a spirit reservoir mounted close to said roller, a moistening roller, a flexible arm secured at its upper end on said hopper and with said moistening roller pivotally mounted on the lower end of said arm so as to be yieldably pressed against said article feed roller, a wick extending from said reservoir into a position overlying and contacting the periphery of vsaid mo-istening roller, a concave pressure plate spaced from said moistening roller and yieldably mounted on said flexible arm to yieldably press said wick against said moistening roller to cause spirit to be delivered from said reservoir through said Wick to said moistening roller and from the latter to each article fed from said hopper.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,637,833 Mueller Aug. 2, 1927 2,034,207 Ritzerfeld Mar. 17, 1936 2,128,507 Storck Aug. 30, 1938 2,185,014 Elliott Dec. 26, 1939 2,204,715 Wimmer .Tune 18, 1940 2,572,450 Crissy Oct. 23, 1951 2,643,119 Morrison June 23, 1953 

